


Locked In

by exuberant_imperfection, kate882



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Theatre, M/M, actor!Aomine, techie!Kuroko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-15 01:57:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4588665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exuberant_imperfection/pseuds/exuberant_imperfection, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "we were cleaning up after the show and got locked in the theater over night and i swear i just heard a noise coming from that dark corner"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Locked In

**Author's Note:**

> http://musicofthestage.tumblr.com/post/114735147656/theatre-aus

“Aomine-kun, the door is locked,” Kuroko said with a tiny frown as he tested the door one more time to confirm that it was in fact locked.

Aomine fell off of the seat he’d been lounging in with a yelp. “Is it really? Are you sure?” he said, standing up and walking over to test it himself. “Shit. It is.”

“Was my word on the matter not good enough, Aomine-kun?” Kuroko asked, giving Aomine an unimpressed look.

“Well, I figured maybe it could have been jammed or something, and you were just too small to open it yourself,” Aomine said matter-of-factly, shrugging.

Kuroko narrowed his eyes at him. If Aomine weren’t the lead in tomorrow’s show, Kuroko might have tried to punch him in the face. As it was, Aomine was the lead actor and Kuroko didn’t think the understudy had practiced enough to take over, so he resisted. “Perhaps you should try to use your head to break the door down. It’s certainly thick enough. Although the hollowness could be a problem.”

Aomine looked at him, gears turning in his mind, and then he realized. “Hey, wait, are you tryin’a call me stupid?” he accused.

“Yes,” Kuroko said flatly, walking down the aisle between chairs towards the stage to see if any of the props could be used as blankets and pillows since it seemed they were locked in for the night.

“Well that’s kinda rude,” Aomine said, watching him walk away. “What are you looking for?”

“Stuff to sleep with. We’re going to be stuck here all night,” Kuroko said, digging through the props.

Aomine grinned stupidly and waggled his eyebrows. “What are you talking about, all you need to sleep with is me.”

Kuroko gave him an unimpressed stare. “I like to enjoy my sleep,” he said flatly.

“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” Aomine said in a sing-song voice, going to help with the search.

“I request that you sleep as far away from me as possible,” Kuroko told him.

“What if it’s just not possible for me to stay too far away from you?” Aomine said with a wink, heading for the costume closet to check for pillows and blankets there. And maybe pajamas.

“You’ll have to manage,” Kuroko replied, giving up on the props and starting to just look around backstage in general for anything that might have been left behind, finding one blanket thrown over a fake rose bush.

Aomine emerged from the closet with two cute, flowery nightgowns and a shit-eating grin. “Tetsu, it looks like this is all I could find. You find anything?”

“I found a blanket,” Kuroko held up said blanket, picking a fake leaf off of it.

“Oh, looks like we’ll have to share, huh?” Aomine asked, his voice mock-disappointed, but still smirking.

“Find your own.”

“...Will _you_ be my blanket?”

Kuroko contemplated throwing something at him, but his aim was shit so he decided against it and simply went to see if he couldn’t find a pillow somewhere. When he couldn’t, he stripped off his shirt and bunched that up to use as a pillow instead, spreading the blanket out on the floor of the stage and placing the wadded-up shirt at the end of the blanket.

Aomine wolf-whistled from his vantage point up on the catwalk, then continued his trek towards the second-story tech office at the end of his path. ...And then realized he was not a techie, and therefore had no way to get into it. “Yo, Tetsu! Do you have keys for this?”

“Not for you, I don’t,” he called back, remembering that Murasakibara kept food and soda in there. That would be useful. With that thought in mind he went up the catwalk and walked towards the office as well.

“Sure you don’t want a nightgown? I’m sure it would look good on you,” Aomine commented as Tetsu approached.

“I’m sure. I think I look better without it,” Kuroko replied, unlocking the door and walking in, swaying his hips a little as he walked.

Aomine raised his eyebrows and blatantly ogled Tetsu as he walked by. “True…” he agreed faintly, following him into the office after a moment.

Kuroko walked over to Murasakibara’s work area and started gathering up food and soda, making a mental note to buy more for him when they got out of there, before walking back out and down to where he had set up his blanket and shirt.

Aomine hadn’t been in here much, so he spent a minute looking around curiously. All of the techies practically lived in this office—ate, slept, worked, sometimes did homework, and occasionally instigated illegal shenanigans. He would have been jealous, but the actors had their own little hideout as well, in a secret location only revealed to upperclassmen and “worthy” first-years. They jokingly called it the “Rave Room”, because they liked to pretend they had raging parties in there, but really they basically crawled in, passed out, and crawled back out when they had work to do. He _did_ take note of the mini-fridge, though—that was a good idea.

Meanwhile, Aomine managed to find one more spare blanket folded up in the office, and wrapped it around himself like a cape, walking dramatically to part of the catwalk that was directly above center stage. He tied the blanket so it stayed in place around his shoulders, then posed with his hands on his hips. “My name is Aomine Daiki,” he said, his voice as deep and booming as he could make it. He pointed a finger at the shadows of the theater. “And I will defend my people from the Darkness!” He climbed back down to the stage and pretended to have just spotted Tetsu lying still on the ground. He gasped. “Citizen, are you in need of my assistance???”

“No. I am not.” Kuroko hoped that would be the end of it, but he knew it wouldn’t be. His life couldn’t be that easy for some reason.

“Don’t be ridiculous, dear citizen! You are clearly far too exposed and vulnerable in these dangerous and trying times, and you must be protected from the Darkness!” Before Tetsu could react, Aomine wrapped him up in the blanket on which he was lying, and then picked him up. “Where do you live, citizen? I will bring you home to your family.”

Kuroko let out a startled yelp, trying to figure out how to get out of Aomine’s arms without hurting himself. Maybe if he just indulged Aomine he would stop? Kuroko did tech stuff, he wasn’t an actor, but he could try at least. He looked up at Aomine through his lashes letting tears form in his eyes. “The darkness has taken my home and family. I have nothing.”

Aomine was almost startled out of character when Tetsu actually went along with it, but he managed to stick it out. He adopted a sorrowful expression. “I am sorry to hear that. May their souls rest in peace. What is your name, citizen?”

That didn’t end it. It had been worth a shot. “Kuroko Tetsuya.” He resigned himself to his fate as he answered. This is what he got for hanging out with theatre kids. It could have been Kise, he reminded himself as a bright side to the situation.

Aomine nodded. “Tetsuya,” he said, his voice solemn, “I shall take it upon myself to protect and provide for you so long as you have need of it. Come, I will take you to my home.”

Kuroko felt himself blushing at the use of his first name, and looked away from Aomine to try and hide it, which was rather difficult to do when in Aomine’s arms. “I told you, I am not in need of your assistance.”

Aomine bowed his head in acknowledgement. “Very well, Tetsuya. However, please allow me to have the honor of your company for a meal,” he said, stooping to grab the bag of snacks as he began to walk back into the costume closet with Tetsu still in his arms. “I make every effort to know all of my citizens, so that I may more effectively defend them.”

“Is that why you’re taking me to a closet?” Kuroko asked, arching an eyebrow inquisitively at Aomine.

Aomine gave Tetsu a bewildered look. “Could it be… you have never heard of the Rave...n Room?” Aomine improvised a new title, as “Rave Room” didn’t sound very in-character, even if that was what they usually called it.

“I don’t keep up with superhero politics,” Kuroko supplied as an answer.

“Ah. Well, you will soon see,” he answered cryptically, taking Tetsu to the very back of the closet and set him down on his feet so he could dig through a pile of rarely-used costumes and props to reveal a crudely-built door that was maybe three feet tall and had a hole where the handle should be. Aomine opened it and gestured for Tetsu to enter.

Kuroko looked mildly surprised by this reveal, but stepped through anyway, having to bend down to get in, and glancing around the room as he did so. “Why didn’t you mention this before we had to search for pillows and blankets and I had to take off my shirt?”

“We superheroes must always be wary of spilling too many secrets,” Aomine answered. Before he followed Tetsu, he rooted through a pile of props and pulled out a crown. “As consolation for the removal of your tunic, please accept this crown, and the title of Princess of the Raven Room.” He approached Tetsu and set the crown on his head reverently.

“Princess?” Kuroko asked incredulously. He most certainly was _not_ a princess.

“Does this not please thee, Princess Tetsuya?” Aomine asked with a concerned, yet heartbroken expression.

Kuroko could feel his face heating up again, and he turned his head away from Aomine, not answering.

Aomine could feel a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth—blushing Tetsu was just too damn cute—so he let it happen and went with it. “Excellent! Then let us dine!” he exclaimed joyously, taking all the food from the tech office and spreading it out on the floor between them, sitting down in a pile of blankets. “Have a seat, Your Highness,” he said, gesturing at the floor across from him.

Kuroko muttered something under his breath that may have been "fuck your seat" but was too quiet to be heard as he sat.

Aomine had just opened up a bag of chips and was trying to think of what to say next, when suddenly there was a loud noise from right outside the door. He panicked, rushed forward and shut the door, barricading it with the single piece of actual furniture in the room, a small wooden stool. And then, as he calmed down he realized that he may or may not have just screamed like a little girl. He looked to see what kind of face Tetsu was making to confirm or deny this.

“Impressive, Aomine-kun,” Kuroko deadpanned. “I didn’t know you were a soprano,” he said before calmly taking a sip of a soda.

“S-shut the hell up,” Aomine snapped, except he started blushing because his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “As if that didn’t just scare the crap out of _you_ , too!”

“No,” Kuroko said simply. He figured it was probably just a prop falling or something. They’d been moving stuff around a lot after all.

“Oh yeah? Well—well then why don’t you go check it out!” Aomine said, pointing towards the door.

Kuroko walked over and lifted Aomine’s arm, feeling his bicep before lifting his own arm and looking at his own bicep, still holding Aomine’s with his other hand. “Yes. Because if there is actually someone out there, _I_ should be the one to deal with it,” he said flatly.

Aomine was still blushing a bit as Tetsu held his arm, but then he grinned. “Ahaaa, so you _do_ think I’m hot!”

“I don’t recall ever saying that,” Kuroko replied, but he might have stroked Aomine’s bicep.

Aomine grinned. This could finally be the day he _won_. Tetsu was willingly touching him, and had not yet moved away even though he’d made a dumb flirty joke about it. If he played his cards right… he could win the challenge Tetsu had set for him on the first day of high school.

_Aomine walked into the cafeteria on the first day of school, not quite sure where he wanted to sit. He knew a few people, but they all sat in completely different social circles, so he was finding it difficult to decide where he wanted to sit. Then someone started waving at him from across the room, so he headed in that direction._

_And then he passed something very attention-grabbing in his peripheral vision. He stopped, backtracked, and looked over at what might have been the most beautiful person he’d ever seen in his life. He walked over with a grin and sat down across from the blue-haired boy and said, “Do you believe in love at first sight? Or should I walk by again?”_

_“Not interested,” Kuroko said, not even glancing up from the book he was reading, simply flipping to the next page._

_Aomine was not quite ready to give up yet. He reached forward and pulled the book down away from the boy’s face. “Is that a mirror in your pocket? Because I can totally see myself in your pants.”_

_Kuroko narrowed his eyes at the boy who had just messed with his book as an attempt to flirt. “I am_ still _not interested.”_

_Aomine was speechless for a moment when the boy looked up, because_ wow _those eyes were_ killer _—but then he shrugged and stood up. “I guess I’ll just have to try again tomorrow.”_

_“I will_ never _be interested,” Kuroko rephrased._

_Aomine had just turned away to leave when the boy spoke again, and he turned back to say, “Challenge accepted.” And then he winked and walked away._

_“It wasn’t a challenge!” Kuroko called after him, but he was either being ignored or the other boy didn’t hear him._

Three years later, Aomine had not yet given up—if anything, he had grown more resilient to the rejection—but, it would be nice if he could succeed before they graduated in a few months. Remembering the effect Tetsu’s full first name had had on him, Aomine smirked. “Well, Tetsuya, maybe you don’t have to say it for me to understand.”

“I wasn’t aware that you had gained the brain capacity to understand things not outright said to you.” Kuroko pretended he wasn’t blushing and that he hadn’t taken a step closer to Aomine.

Aomine’s heartbeat quickened, and his thoughts became a little fuzzy, so it wasn’t entirely a lie when he also stepped closer and said, “Well, it does get harder to think with you around.” He reached forward and laid a hand on his waist lightly, lowering his head a bit to be closer to Tetsu’s ear and dropping his voice to a whisper. “You’re a little distracting.”

“My royalty tends to have that effect on people,” Kuroko replied, and then moved the crown off of his own head and onto Aomine’s. “But since you’re the princess now, what do you think of me kneeling down for you?”

Aomine was honestly so ridiculously turned on just from the smoothness of that line. He’d spent the past three years attempting to hone the ultimate seduction tactics to succeed at Tetsu’s challenge, but then Tetsu just goes and pulls something like _that_ out of his ass? _Damn_. Just… _damn_. He might have been blushing a little.

It may have just been an attempt at payback for all of the pick up lines he had endured throughout the past three years, but he kept talking as he got down on his knees in front of Aomine. “Your pants look a little tight. Want me to help you take them off?” he asked, looking up at Aomine through his lashes.

Aomine came very close to making an embarrassing whiny noise at the sight of Tetsu kneeling in front of him, _looking at him like that_. He managed to hold it back, but then all he could really do was nod wordlessly.

* * *

Kuroko plastered himself to Aomine for warmth since neither of them were clothed at the moment, and the room was pretty cold. He was resting his head on Aomine’s chest to listen to his heart beat.

Aomine had been running his fingers through Tetsu’s soft hair for a while now, and his other hand was tracing aimless patterns up and down Tetsu’s arm. At some point, he sighed happily and said, “Finally.”

Kuroko looked up at him sleepily. “Right, you’ve been trying for this for three years. I guess finally is the right word,” he mumbled. 

“You know, if… if there had actually been, like, a serial killer out there, or something, I would be totally fine with this being the last thing I did before I died,” Aomine said thoughtfully. Then he snickered. “Maybe even the guy would have walked in and been like, ‘Aw man, gross’, and walked out, and that would be the story of how sex saved our lives.”

“That would be the story of how your blowjob never got finished because we died,” Kuroko informed him tiredly, closing his eyes since it didn’t seem like this conversation was going anywhere productive.

“Now that’s just pessimistic, Tetsu,” Aomine mock-chided, giving his hair a quick ruffle before returning to slowly stroking it. “You know, the only way I even got to this point was through the power of optimism. You’re not very easy to win over.” He laughed and added jokingly, “And I like to think that I’m pretty damn charming, right? So that’s saying something." 

“You weren’t charming. You were obnoxious. You still kind of are. I’m not actually sure how you won me over. Maybe because you seemed less obnoxious by comparison after I met Kise,” he mused, eyes still closed.  

“Or maybe you just didn’t even realize it when you started to actually like me, cuz I’m just that smooth,” Aomine countered.

“No. I realized it. It was about a year ago, that time you tripped and fell off the stage and I almost choked on my water laughing at you. And then I realized I liked you,” Kuroko told him, somehow managing to snuggle closer. He was starting to drift towards sleep.

“...Wait, _what?”_ Aomine said, sitting up abruptly. “A year? A whole _year_ , and you’re only just now doing this? Why???”

Kuroko pouted from his new spot on the floor. Aomine’s abrupt movement had practically flung Kuroko off of him, and he looked at Aomine with sleepy betrayal for it.

Aomine narrowed his eyes at him. “You—you stop that pouting crap, I asked you a question! You can’t just _cute_ your way out of it!”

“I’m not trying to cute my way out of anything. You moved!” he said accusingly, curling up into a ball to try and stay warm.

Aomine laid back down and wrapped his arms around Tetsu, giving him a short but slow kiss. He pulled back with a smile and reached up to run his fingers through Tetsu’s hair some more—it was too addicting. “ _Now_ will you answer me?”

Kuroko shrugged. “I didn’t think you actually liked me. I thought it was about that dumb challenge you made up in your head three years ago,” he replied.

“Well… it kinda was at _first_ …” Aomine admitted. “But it didn’t take very long for me to realize that there’s just no one else in the whole world as beautiful as you. So… I figured you were worth a bit more than a dumb challenge I took at the beginning of high school.”

Kuroko blushed bright red, hiding his face against Aomine’s chest so that he couldn’t see it.

Aomine just chuckled a little and kissed the top of his head and lay there silently for a few minutes. “So… we should totally get locked in the theater more often.”

“I have an actual bed at home that I find preferable.”

“...That works, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies to anyone who feels cheated by the lack of actual smut, but trust me when I say you would not want to read any smut I wrote LOL ~exuberant-imperfection


End file.
